Hunting Dogs

Pets, families seek out Easter eggs at annual event

Charlee, a 10-week-old miniature schnauzer from Mazon, stands atop the pile of Easter eggs he collected Saturday morning during his first year at the Doggie Easter Egg Hunt in Goold Park in Morris.

By Christina Chapman-Van Yperen - cchapman@morrisdailyherald.com

The annual Doggie Easter Egg Hunt is dedicated to dogs, but is a fun event for the whole family.

About 1,500 plastic eggs filled with dog treats and coupons to Blackbird’s Bowl Natural Pet Foods in Morris were hidden around Goold Park for the dogs to sniff out Saturday morning. Every year, Bonnie Latta of Bone-ifide Care Pet Services sponsors the event.

This year was the ninth for the egg hunt, and it was a record year, with about 75 dogs and their families attending.

“It’s an all-inclusive event whether your married, single, young, old, have a family with four kids or one kid, and you get to bring your dog,” said Latta.

Kris Werden of Morris attended the egg hunt with her dog Missy, a poodle and shih tzu mix, for the first time.

“You’re doing so good. You might be the winner!” said Werden to Missy.

Werden attended with her daughter, who had been to the event before.

“She wanted to bring the girls out for something fun to do,” she said.

For the Mennenga family, hunting for the Easter eggs is a family job. Sophie, 11, and Gracie, 6, follow their cockapoo Gus as he sniffs the eggs, but moves on quickly to the next, leaving the girls to pick up his finds.

“It’s just fun. It’s his favorite thing,” said Jill Mennenga, mother to Gus and the girls.

“He gets better and better ever year,” she said.

Many of the dogs were like Gus and would give the plastic eggs a curious sniff before running to the next, but some would sniff and bite through every egg they found to get all the treats.

This was the secret for Ace, Scott and Lois Darlington’s dog, who won the egg hunt with 92 eggs, said Latta.

The hunt lets the dogs burn some energy, as well as helpd prepare the kids for the holiday next week.

“The kids like it, too, because it warms them up for Easter,” said Rich Bailey, who attended the event with his wife, kids and two dogs.

An egg hunt would not be complete without the Easter Bunny. The Morris Local of the Illinois Federation of Business Women’s Club brought the Easter Bunny again this year to take pictures with the pets as a fundraiser for its scholarships.

The club and Latta teamed up to grow the event and raise money to help local girls with higher-education costs.

“This is one of our major fundraisers for the year. All the proceeds from the pictures go toward our scholarships for local women and girls,” said vice president of the club, Tasha Rhodes. “We are so thankful to Bonnie for letting us participate every year.”

The club has annually given out two $500 scholarships to two Grundy County high school students or adults to help pay for higher education.

For more information on Bone-ifide Care, visit www.bone-ifide.com. For more information on the Morris Local of the Illinois Federation Business Women's Clubs and its scholarships, call (815) 715-2806.